How Quickly They Forget: In Their Own Words, Republicans on the Urgent Need for the Supplemental

As Congress prepares to finalize the Supplemental
Appropriations Act of 2009 [H.R. 2346], it's instructive to look at how some
House Republicans expressed their overwhelming support for previous
supplemental bills.

Minority Leader John Boehner (OH-08):

In 2008, Boehner said that "a signable supplemental
emergency spending bill for Iraq
and Afghanistan
with additional items" should be passed quickly because "our troops need the
resources." [Boehner Press Conference, 6/12/08]

Representative Roy Blunt (MO-07):

In 2008, Blunt praised the negotiated supplemental war
spending bill but said that a delay in its passage due to partisan disputes
meant soldiers were "waiting too long" for "the support, resources and benefits
they need." According
to Blunt's Press Release: "What we accomplished is a bill that ensures that
our Armed Forces receive the support, resources and benefits they need, deserve
and frankly have been waiting far too long for." [Blunt
Press Release, 6/19/08]

Representative Tom Cole (OK-04):

In 2006, Representative Tom Cole argued that how Members of
Congress voted on the war supplemental showed their "willingness to support our
service men and women." According to Cole's floor
statement: "I would ask Members to remember this is a vote about our
willingness to support our service men and women and not about other policy
issues." [Cole Floor Remarks, 6/12/06]

Then, in 2008, Representative Cole argued that it was
"immoral" to oppose a war supplemental. According
to Cole's floor remarks: "The immoral thing to do would be to
commit 170,000 people to combat and not resupply them and not reequip them and
not give them the things they need on a daily basis to not only be successful,
but to provide for their own safety and security ... And not to support the
rule, and certainly not to support the supplemental appropriations, I believe,
would be a grave and terrible mistake for this country." [Cole Floor Remarks, 5/5/05]